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Civet of Hare

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It has been a great pleasure, reading through and cooking from this one of a kind book.

I have a recipe question for you, about the “Civet of Hare”, it fascinates me and raises all kinds of questions. I have never in my wildest dreams thought about buying an animal, dispatching it in my home and collecting it’s blood. The more I read through the recipe though the more I get how personal it is to you and I actually would like to attempt it if possible and maybe understand why you love it so much.

I have never seen a live hare, let alone have access to one. The only one I can get is frozen. Where would I get a live hare? Is there a substitute? What if I procure a frozen or already dressed one, can the recipe still be done successfully? How/where did the tester test the recipe?

Many thanks for taking the time to join us in this conversation.

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It has been a great pleasure, reading through and cooking from this one of a kind book.

I have a recipe question for you, about the “Civet of Hare”, it fascinates me and raises all kinds of questions. I have never in my wildest dreams thought about buying an animal, dispatching it in my home and collecting it’s blood. The more I read through the recipe though the more I get how personal it is to you and I actually would like to attempt it if possible and maybe understand why you love it so much.

I have never seen a live hare, let alone have access to one. The only one I can get is frozen. Where would I get a live hare? Is there a substitute? What if I procure a frozen or already dressed one, can the recipe still be done successfully? How/where did the tester test the recipe?

In that case, I was the tester. Normally I test all the recipes in my books usually more than three times. The jugged hare recipe was an exception, tested only once because I'm not a hunter or married to one, and didn't have access to a shot hare. I did purchase fresh packed Scottish hare from d'Artagnan and used the liver instead of the blood.

I wrote the recipe in such a way that those who are hunters and know a healthy jack rabbit from one that is sick can make the dish properly as well.

In the introduction I mention the help I received from my friend Aude Clement, who taught me how to cut up a hare and also how to keep the blood.

As for just killing a hare, skinning it and carving it while it's still warm for the pot -- I decided that that was my "maginot line." If you don't hunt just follow the recipe as written (buying a hare, as I did, from d'Artagnan) and leave the rest of fantasy!

As I suggested in the recipe, you can do the dish with American jackrabbit or even duck legs and use duck or chicken liver in place of the blood.